Tue 29 Jan 2019
Spring 2019 Course Advice
Posted by David Dudley Field '25 under Annual Events at 6:24 am
Spring classes start tomorrow. Our advice:
Your major does not matter! One of the biggest confusions among Williams students is the belief that future employers care about your major, that, for example, studying economics helps you get a job in business. It doesn’t! Major in what you love.
But future employers are often interested in two things. First, can you get the computer to do what you want it to do? Second, can you help them analyze data to make them more successful? Major in Dance (if you love dance) but take 4 or so classes in computer science and statistics. With that as background, you will be competitive with any of your Williams classmates when it comes time to apply for internships/jobs.
Take a tutorial every semester. The more tutorials you take, the better your Williams education will be. There are few plausible excuses for not taking a tutorial every semester. Although many tutorials are now filled, others are not.
Too many first years take a big intro class because they think they “should.” They shouldn’t! Even a “bad” tutorial at Williams is better than almost all intro courses. If you are a first year and you don’t take a tutorial, you are doing it wrong. Note that, even if you don’t have the official prerequisites for a class, you should still enroll. The pre-reqs almost never matter and professors will always (?) let you into a tutorial with empty spots.
By the way, where can we find data about how popular tutorials are? For example, do most/all tutorials end up filled? How many students attempted to enroll in each one? More transparency!
Take STAT 201 (if you enter Williams with Math/Reading SAT scores below 1300, you might start with STAT 101). No topic is more helpful in starting your career, no matter your area of interest, than statistics. Students who take several statistics courses are much more likely to get the best summer internships and jobs after Williams. Also, the new Statistics major is amazing.
Skip STAT 201 if you took AP Statistics. Go straight to STAT 202 instead. And don’t worry about the stupid math prerequisites that the department tries to put in your way. You don’t really need multivariate calculus for 201 or matrix algebra for the more advanced classes. Those math tricks come up in a couple of questions on a couple of problem sets. Your friends (and some Khan Academy videos) will get you through it. If challenged, just tell people you took those classes in high school.
Take CSCI 134: Diving into the Deluge of Data. Being able to get the computer to do what you want it to do is much more important, to your future career, than most things, including, for example, the ability to write well. You might consider skipping 134 and going directly to 136, but 134 seems to be a much better course than it was in the past, especially with the use of Python and the focus on data.
If a professor tries to tell you the class is full, just claim to be future major in that topic. Indeed, many students officially enroll as statistics or computer science majors sophomore year to ensure that they get into the classes they want. You can always drop a major later. Mendacity in the pursuit of quality classes is no vice.
See our previous discussions. Here are some thoughts from 12 (?) years ago about course selections for a career in finance.
What courses would you recommend? What was the best class you took at Williams?
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10 Responses to “Spring 2019 Course Advice”
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frank uible says:
If the prospect of college bores you as a first year, then go into the military immediately in order to mature. I wish I had.
January 29th, 2019 at 7:02 amabl says:
I have worked in a number of jobs in several different fields that are highly desirable to Ephs. In none of those positions did my employer care one iota if I could “get the computer to do what you want it to do” or “help them analyze data to make them more successful.”
I also have multiple graduate degrees in areas that attract many Ephs, from school(s) desirable to Ephs. In no circumstances has computer literacy beyond what all Ephs have (e.g., can you use Word) been necessary for my success, and there have only been a small handful of times in which I would have said it was even plausibly helpful (all involving stats, and not Compsci, incidentally). And for a student looking to pick up those levels of skills, I think one Stats class–especially if coupled with a “how to use STATA/R” overview–would be more than sufficient. (And, in fact, I actually think most students looking to develop the necessary level of stats competency would be better served waiting until grad/professional school to take a “Stats for [x]” class, along with teaching themselves STATA/R through one of many easy-to-find tutorials.)
In my experience, being a good reader, a good writer, and a good critical thinker are the most helpful skills to hone in college. Your advice re Stats and Compsci may be excellent for those seeking to undertake a career in business, but for my line(s) of work, these class just aren’t helpful. And the opportunity cost of taking four compsci/stats classes isn’t small.
I’d strongly suggest that you tone down the Stats/Compsci aspect of your suggestion in future iterations of this post. Most Ephs don’t want to and won’t go into a business-related career and, I suspect, for most Ephs, your advice re Stats and Compsci is therefore just bad.
January 29th, 2019 at 11:33 amNancy says:
Not while Trump is president, Frank.
January 29th, 2019 at 11:55 amDDF says:
abl:
This is weak tea.
> no circumstances has computer literacy beyond what all Ephs have (e.g., can you use Word) been necessary for my success
Well, D’uh! Did I say it was? My claim is that computer/statistical literacy — the sort one might get after 4 courses at Williams — is very helpful to success, or at least to getting that first internship/job out of Williams, especially if the field/position/city you want are competitive. Would you disagree?
I am making an empirical claim. Take 100 (non-Stat, non-CS) Williams students. Randomly assign 50 to take my 4 courses. Allow the other 50 to take whatever they want. My claim is that, on average, the 50 who take the four courses are more likely to get the internship/job they want than the other 50.
> being a good reader, a good writer, and a good critical thinker are the most helpful skills to hone in college
Agreed! Who denies that? But the other 28 (!) courses that every Williams student takes already do a pretty good job of teaching those skills. Don’t they? The marginal benefit — to becoming a better reader/writer/thinker — of courses 29 to 32 is not zero, but it isn’t that large either.
> And the opportunity cost of taking four compsci/stats classes isn’t small.
Agreed! Students only have 32 Golden Tickets. But note that I am not requiring students to make this choice. I am just informing them about the realities of the world in which we live, sad that they may be.
By the way, since we are both concerned with “opportunity cost,” will you join me in asking Williams to get rid of the divisional, WI, DPE and QFR requirements?
> Most Ephs don’t want to and won’t go into a business-related career
Huh? Unless you have some weird definition of “business-related,” this is surely false.
January 29th, 2019 at 7:08 pmDoug says:
DDF, you’re coming at this from the lens of someone whose career is in finance. Thus, your advice needs (big) qualifications.
My career choice did require me to take comp sci and statistics courses. But that’s not everyone, not even by a stretch. That’s just the kids who are interested in consulting and finance, for the most part.
Those who want to become lawyers, doctors, go into education, get a humanities Ph. D., work in a non-profit, learn a language, etc., don’t need a comp sci or statistics course. Would it hurt them? No, definitely not. But it’s ridiculous to suggest that it’s necessary — tons of students don’t do this to no detriment because they are interested in a career path that doesn’t require knowledge of C++ or R-studio. They’d also surely be helped to some degree by taking a psychology or sociology course, but it’s not productive to say that it’s of tantamount importance that they do so. That’s the beauty of liberal arts.
I also think your endorsements of tutorials goes too far. A tutorial can be a negative experience with a bad professor or, worse yet, a bad tutorial partner. They’re also a lot of work. There’s a reason almost no one takes a tutorial every semester…
January 29th, 2019 at 7:42 pmabl says:
Yes, I would. For the 70%+ of Williams students not contemplating jobs in business (or in stats/compsci), I don’t think that the sort of “computer/statistical literacy” that “one might get after 4 courses at Williams” is helpful at all to success, or “to getting that first internship/job out of Williams.”
And I would argue that once you screen for business, this isn’t true. In fact, I suspect that the marginal value of the fourth stats/compsci class is negative relative to whatever else would be taken in its stead. I’m not sure that wouldn’t hold true for the second or third stats/compsci class as well. (And I think there are alternatives–tutorials, for example–where the marginal value is positive.)
And I’m arguing that you’re mischaracterizing these “realities.”
Maybe I’m wrong about this, but my sense was the around a third of the Williams class went into consulting or banking or a job that either led to or from b-school. That’s what I meant by business-related. What’s your sense of this?
January 29th, 2019 at 10:01 pmanon says:
I agree. I do not know a single field in which computer/ statistical literacy is is not a skill that will help success. Not one. Not even picking up cans for 5 cents a pop on the highway.
I’d recommend micro and macro (or a basic course that explains western economic theories in some detail) for just about everyone as well. At least basic literacy in Econ. It should be a part of any humanities degree.
If you do not understand basic western capitalist economic theory then you do not fully understand sociology, cultural anthropology, political science, cultural studies, philosophy, etc. etc. Basic Micro and Macro theory relates to just about everything a person will learn in sociology, political science, gender studies, etc.
January 29th, 2019 at 10:55 pmWilliamstown Resident says:
The idea that your major doesn’t matter is heavily based on the concept that the words, “Williams College” on the diploma carry so much weight. Historically that was true. What does the future hold?
Given that Williams has devolved into a hotbed of PC BS, you can be sure that employers who don’t want to import Gender Studies or other _______ Studies nonsense into their businesses will be taking a harder look at what major you choose.
January 30th, 2019 at 8:16 amCurrent Student says:
I think your heart is in the right place, though taking four Stat/Comp Sci classes is a bit much. A lot of students benefit from taking them (including me), regardless of Major or intended career path. Also, it’s not just good for the (1/3? I don’t know the number) business students; the science students would benefit immensely from these courses. I’d say well over half of the students at Williams should try to take a Stats or Comp Sci course or two. Getting into a Comp Sci course? Well, that’s a different story altogether…
I don’t think a tutorial every semester is a good idea. I’ve taken a lot, but I find choosing them to be a thought-intensive process where it’s important to understand how your semester is going to go, etc. Interest in a tutorial is vital, and it helps to get lucky with a good tutorial partner.
January 30th, 2019 at 12:38 pmdcat says:
Yeah, can I second abl here? This advice is nonsense.
You do not need to know how to work on your computer or code the programs on it because you work on a computer any more than you need to know how to repair your internal combustion engine just because you need it to drive to work. In fact, there is a newly emergent racist and sexist culture emerging telling people to “learn to code” because people who think coding is all that vital tend to have a disproportionately representative population of assholes.
Second, data is important. It is nowhere near as important as being able to write well. I believe the ability to write (and speak) is far more important than any particular sequence of classes you might take at Williams. But don’t let the tech/data frauds tell you that their world is more important. They just happen to be producing the loudest assholes right now.
February 3rd, 2019 at 2:06 am